OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to gain insight into the meaning of being a nursing professional working in a public Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU). This study addresses aspects related to their way of being and feeling from the perspective of ITU patients care and treatment. METHODS: A qualitative research was applied based on a phenomenological background. The guiding question of the study was "what does it mean to you being an ITU nursing professional?" RESULTS: The results show that the lack of human and material resources in the ITU contributes to a feeling of low self-esteem. It pointed out a stressfull work which can lead to problems in the health assistance quality. CONCLUSION: The stress at work affects psychologically the ITU nursing professionals and it can have negative outcomes in the patients treatment, caused by the isolation and aleniation phenomena.
Intensive therapy units; Nursing staff, hospital; Caregivers; Nursing, team